Wire Stripping - Any tricks?

[Marvin Goins]

Completed a house rewire last winter & have several hundred feet of old wire that was pulled out. I’d like to strip & sell it to supplement the tool fund. With copper prices being so high, it seems that now’s the time to sell it.

Problem is: most of it is 1930’s BX armored – 2-wire – insulation is hard to remove - being hard black brittle stuff that’s covered in woven ‘?asbestos?’ fabric.

Anyone have any tricks to strip this stuff? A pocketknife is just not cutting it…

[Mike Henderson]

The guys who steal wire burn the insulation off. I have no idea if that's safe, but I doubt if they worry about the long term health consequences.

Mike

[Gene Howe]

The guys who steal wire burn the insulation off. I have no idea if that's safe, but I doubt if they worry about the long term health consequences.

Mike
Mike beat me to it.

[Warren Johnson]

Why strip it. The local guy I deal with doesn' require it being stripped. Throws it on the scale and that's it.

[Brian Brown]

Fire...Fire...Heh heh.. Fire :D

[keith ouellette]

Maybe some sexy music might help but I don't really know. I don't go in for that kinda thing:D

[John Shuk]

Clean copper (No insulation) commands a higher price but you have to figure out if it is worth stripping.
Scrap metal buyers will usually offer less than wholesale value and act as if they are doing you a favor by taking it off of your hands for you. Hit him up for a bit more than he offers you.

[Jim Koepke]

I think asbestos is considered as a hazardous waste. You may want to be careful if you do the stripping.

I would see if a good blade sharpened like a razor could be set in a vice with the cable straddling the blade and pull on the two sides of the wire to split it. Then, make a notch in a piece of steel and sharpen it up to take off the inside insulation off of each conductor.

Wear dust protection and have a big barrel under the action.

It just might work.

jim

[Brian Effinger]

Fire...Fire...Heh heh.. Fire :D
Settle down Beavis! :D